Pencil drawing by Thomas and William Daniell from an album of 16 drawings of architectural details from Hindu and Islamic buildings in India, including Colgong, Delhi (Nizamuddin complex), Deo and Bodhgaya, dated 1788-93.

Thomas Daniell (1749-1840) and his nephew William (1769-1837) travelled throughout India from 1786 to 1794. During this period, they produced a large collection of working drawings of the landscape views and monuments they witnessed that they later used for their aquatints and oil paintings. On their first tour in North India of 1788 to 1791, the artists set up from Calcutta and proceeded up the Ganges by budgerow visiting all the well-known places such as Bhagalpur, Patna, Ghazipur, Benares and Allahabad. From Cownpore they proceeded by palanquin to Agra, Mathura, Delhi and visited the pilgrimage place of Hardwar. They returned through Rampur, Bareilly, Shahjehanpur and Lucknow and proceeded by boat to Benares (Varanasi). After reaching Patna they returned to Calcutta by budgerow. Their journeys are recorded in the pencil sketches and wash drawings represented here that they made almost every day.